In cloud environment, software products such as cloud-based applications can be provided as services. One system may be used to host and run multiple applications or multiple instances of an application for one or more customers. A cloud platform enables a large number of computers to be connected through a real-time network such as the Internet. In this way, hosted application services that run on the cloud platform can be provisioned to run client server software on a remote location. End users may access the cloud-based applications through a Web browser, a thin client, a mobile application, etc., while the enterprise software and the users' data are stored on server nodes at a remote location. Cloud providers may install and operate application software in the cloud and cloud users access the software from cloud clients. Cloud users may not manage the cloud infrastructure and platform where the application runs. This would eliminate the need to install and run the application on the cloud users own computers, which simplifies maintenance and support.
Authorization and authentication between a Web browser and a Web application of a cloud provider may be performed via Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). SAML is an XML-based (Extensible Markup Language) open standard data format for exchanging authorization and authentication data between an identity provider and a service provider. An identity provider is responsible for issuing identification information for all providers looking to interact with a system (such as a system on the cloud platform). This is achieved via an authentication module which verifies a security token as an alternative to explicitly authenticating a user within a security realm. One of the features that SAML addresses is Web browser single sign-on (SSO).